


The Beginning of the End

by TheCaitalloWrites



Series: The End of the World as We Know It [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Gen, M/M, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-07-29 10:53:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7681600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCaitalloWrites/pseuds/TheCaitalloWrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The end of the world is about to get very real for Kurt and Adam.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

The end of the world as he knew it hadn't happened quite like Kurt had expected it would. First of all, he hadn’t really expected it at all; people who genuinely held beliefs about any sort of impending end of days were the sort of people he’d always found laughable. Secondly, there was no real fanfare, no big event setting it all off, no real “bang! Everything’s over! Happy apocalypse!” type moment; instead it had come on gradually, so insidiously. It had just sort of happened in such a way that things were out of control before many people really knew what hit them. Many people hadn’t really been paying attention and didn’t take serious precautionary actions until it was either too late or almost too late.  
  
Whether he cared to admit it or not, Kurt was one of those people who hadn’t taken it all that seriously until he’d had to. The obscure reports of a possible flesh-eating virus in remote areas of the world were, of course, gross and sad, but they didn’t affect his daily life and were thus soon forgotten. As were the updates to the story regarding what appeared to be reanimated (and violent!) corpses that had been linked to the virus.  
  
Then, it hit home. New York was one of the first states in the US that was hit, and it was hit hard. It came to NYC, and all hell soon started to break loose. Schools and businesses began shutting down. Chaos and anarchy and panic took over the streets. People were advised to either get the hell out of the city or stay in their homes. A state of emergency was declared.  
  
And just like that the life he had made for himself in that city ended. No job at Vogue or at the Spotlight diner. No NYADA. Probably no real future to speak of at all. And as heartbreaking as all that was, Kurt had much bigger concerns.  
  
He and Rachel had been staying in the loft, too afraid to leave it, but now they were almost out of many necessary supplies. Additionally, Kurt had lost contact with Adam, who had locked himself in his own apartment in a similar fashion. Going hungry Kurt could deal with, but the terror that gripped his heart like a vice-grip that came from not knowing what was going on with Adam, if Adam was safe or okay or not, that was truly unbearable.  
  
And it had been bad enough when, a few weeks prior, Santana had left the loft in search of Dani and had yet to contact them or to return… He couldn’t think about that right now…  
  
So, he took to the streets, armed only with a baseball bat and his sai swords and feeling a primal fear like he had never known before, leaving Rachel to hold down the fort in their apartment with whatever else they owned that could serve as weaponry. His primary mission was to head toward Adam’s place and hopefully find him there safe and alive. His secondary mission was to procure more food, some bottled water (‘cause for all they knew their days of clean, running water were limited) and more toilet paper (because hoarding that seemed like a damn good idea all of a sudden.) All of that came second to finding Adam though. God, he just had to find Adam.  
  
Public transport was down so he was in for a long and treacherous walk. So far so good. There were no signs of life or un-life anywhere. Kurt thanked the God he didn’t believe in.  
  
It was so eerily still and quiet though, so unlike the city in its former life. Was this the ultimate future for this place? Kurt couldn’t help but wonder.  
  
Such speculations, however brief, helped him take his mind off Adam’s possible fates. With each hypothetical demise playing out in Kurt’s head more grisly than the last, any momentary distraction was welcome. He wanted—no, _needed_ — Adam to be okay more than he had ever wanted or needed anything before. He didn’t even want to think about what would happen if he didn’t find him or if he found him hurt or dead or worse…  
  
The thought of Adam becoming one of those _things_ made him feel physically sick.  
  
A tall figure was shambling awkwardly toward him, and for a sickening second, he feared his nightmare had come true. He gripped the handle of his bat so tightly his knuckles went white; he’d never killed one of them before, and he wasn’t sure if he could.  
  
As the zombie drew nearer, it was very evidently not Adam. Although still terrified for his own life, Kurt could breathe just a bit easier. This zombie had once been a man with short blond hair and a lot of tattoos that had probably looked much better in life; his left leg was injured, and if Kurt ran he’d surely never catch him.  
  
But Kurt needed to learn how to take these things down, so he swung his bat as hard as he could at its head. He could never un-hear the cracking and squelching sound it made. The zombie fell to the ground and flailed pitifully. Kurt knew the sais would be more effective for killing, but they also had a shorter range, and he was too scared to get any closer. So, he kept hitting it and hitting it and hitting it with the bat until blood was splattered all around them, and the zombie’s flailing stilled. His heart pounded, and adrenaline surged through him, and this whole end of the world thing had never felt more real.  
  
During his travels, he killed two more zombies before finally encountering another living human. At first, he was relieved, but then almost immediately he was terrified all over again. The man had a gun pointed squarely at Kurt’s chest. Kurt put his shaking hands in the air; he didn’t dare drop the bat in his right hand but he hoped that his looser grip on it and his palm facing forward would send the intended message of peace.  
  
“If you come here to steal you best turn around, boy. You in the wrong hood for that,” the man said.  
  
“Please don’t hurt me,” Kurt responded, “Please. I-I’m not here to steal anything; I-I-I’m looking for a man. He’s tall, taller than me, but not as tall as you, white, with blond hair, probably wearing a beanie, talks with an English accent. Have you seen him?”  
  
The man lowered his weapon with hesitance. He shook his head, but his eyes never left Kurt. “Nah, man. I haven’t seen anybody like that, dead or alive. Sorry.”  
  
“Okay,” Kurt said, “Thanks. Um, can I move on or will you shoot me?”  
  
“You good. Just watch your back, alright? There’s been some punks around here lootin’ and stealin’ from folks,” the man answered.  
  
“Alright. Thanks for the tip,” Kurt replied, and with that, he moved on. Great, that was just what he needed. If he didn’t get eaten by a damn zombie, he’d get fucking mugged. Suddenly, Kurt wondered if he could kill another human being if he had to. He hoped desperately that he didn’t ever have to find out.  
  
Not too long after his encounter with the armed man, Kurt stumbled across a small group of zombies. Quickly and quietly, he changed direction and took a detour that he hoped wouldn’t get him lost. His phone rang, and it was Rachel. He answered quickly.  
  
“Kurt! They’re here! They’re here! They’re banging on the door! Oh God, Kurt!” Rachel screamed.  
  
“Oh shit, oh fuck. Rachel? Rachel?” he responded, a new wave of terror washing over him, “Rachel? Is the door still barricaded? Rachel, listen, don’t panic, this is important.” She informed him that the door was indeed still blocked by furniture. “Okay, do you have anything that can be used in a fight within reach?” She informed him that she thought she did. “Oh God, Rachel, just hang in there, okay? Hopefully you won’t have to use any of them. Good luck.”  
  
“Kurt! Don’t hang up! Please don’t leave me!” Rachel pleaded.  
  
“I’m sorry, but I have to reserve battery. God, Rachel, I’m so so sorry.” He hung up after that, not wanting to hear her scream again.  
  
Okay, so there was a good chance he would have no home to return to after this mission, this probably suicide mission. And there was a good chance his best friend would be killed...or worse. Oh God. He hoped desperately that she would be okay somehow.  
  
Still, as horrible as it was, he couldn’t focus on that at the moment. He took several deep breaths in and out and quickly wiped the tears from his eyes. He just had to find Adam. He just had to.

  


At least the apocalypse had had the decency to happen during the summer when the days were long. Kurt didn’t even want to think about what being out at night was like. As it was, he was already fretting about this being a potentially two day trip.  
  
If Adam’s apartment was still safe, he could stay there, and he hoped it was because that would make it more likely that Adam himself was safe. Staying over at Adam’s would be a welcome change of pace, a little slice of almost normal in a world gone mad. He hadn’t even physically seen his boyfriend in weeks, many long weeks, and even amidst all the terror that plagued him now, he felt Adam’s absence. He missed him terribly; just to lay eyes on him again, to touch him and have him be real and there with him, to feel his touch, Kurt craved it so much it made him practically ache.  
  
Suddenly, Kurt spotted a figure in the distance, heading in his direction. The figure appeared too coordinated to be a zombie, but Kurt was apprehensive all the same. The figure was Adam-sized and Adam-shaped, but Kurt didn’t dare to hope, not at least until he could get closer.  
  
The other man must have spotted Kurt because he picked up his pace. “Kurt?” a voice that Kurt had been afraid he would never hear again called out.  
  
“Adam? Adam, what are you doing out here? What happened?” Kurt ran to him.  
  
The two of them embraced each other tightly. “I could ask you the same thing,” Adam replied.  
  
“I was looking for you,” Kurt said, “You stopped answering my calls, my texts, and I couldn’t reach you online. Oh God, Adam, I was so worried. It’s so good to see you.”  
  
“I know, sweetheart. That’s why I was headed in your direction. I knew you’d worry. Well, that and I wanted to be with you. I’ve missed you,” Adam responded. His hold on Kurt had loosened a bit, but he hadn’t released him.  
  
“I missed you, too,” Kurt said, “so much. Next apocalypse, let’s agree not to get separated ever, okay?” He brought their lips together. Finally, he stepped back. “Come on, we’ve still gotta get supplies and head back.” He tried not to think about the fact that there might be no reason to “head back”, nowhere and no one to return to.  
  
“Alright, love, you lead the way,” Adam said, “I am apparently not as good at navigation as I had previously thought.”  
  
“You got lost, didn’t you?” Kurt asked, a playful smile teasing at the corners of his mouth.  
  
“Very,” Adam said, and then after a beat added, “Twice.”  
  
Kurt laughed for the first time in a long time. “Well, it’s a good thing I found you, isn’t it? Now, what happened? Did they find you? The zombies?”  
  
“No, actually,” Adam answered, “People did.” And from there, he told Kurt his story.


	2. Chapter Two

Maybe he was too trusting or too willing to see the best in people, but Adam never expected people to be one of the biggest threats to his personal safety in this zombie apocalypse scenario. He honestly figured—and maybe this was naive of him— that he would stay in his apartment until he ran out of supplies or until zombies forced him out (or killed him, which was truthfully more likely.) He never imagined he’d be basically run out by his fellow man.  
  
It all started when he heard movement and voices in the hall outside. Nearly everyone else in the building besides Adam had left the city, so it likely wasn’t his neighbors stirring. Adam tensed and quickly grabbed the knives from his kitchen that would have to serve as weaponry. He crouched down behind his futon and waited.  
  
He definitely heard talking, and that was a clue that there were people around because as far as Adam was aware zombies didn’t talk. Still, he wasn’t about to totally let his guard down.  
  
Soon there came a knock on the door—well, actually a banging, and soon enough, the door was broken down. Before Adam could say or do anything, there was a man pointing a gun at him. “Drop the knives and get up,” the man said, “Put your hands up.”  
  
Adam did as he was told, but not without question. “What’s going on here?” He looked to find several other men going about his home and rummaging through his belongings.  
  
“What’s going on is we’re gonna take whatever you’ve got that’s worth anything and whatever you’ve got to eat, and you’re gonna stand right there and let us,” the man pointing his gun at Adam replied, “There anybody else here with you?”  
  
“No,” Adam answered, seeing no reason to lie, “Just me.”  
  
“Good,” the man said, “You stay right there. Don’t move.”  
  
“Man, this guy doesn’t have anything good,” another man who was going through the cabinets in the kitchen area said, “What is this? Tea? Some little fucking cookie things? What kinda faggotry—?”  
  
“Oi!” Adam protested, well aware that he was pushing his luck by doing so.  
  
“Oh, sorry, man. Are you actually like a fag or something? My bad, dude,” the man replied. The sincerity of this sort-of apology was difficult to determine. The man continued to mutter to himself, but Adam wasn’t sure what he said.  
  
“Marcus, if you don’t shut the hell up and hurry the hell up, I swear to God I’m gonna throw you in front of the next motherfucking zombie we see,” the man whose gun was still pointed at Adam said.  
  
“Look,” Adam ventured nervously, “Whatever you need, food, water, shelter, anything, you don’t have to take it. I don’t have much to offer, but I’m willing to help you; you don’t have to point a gun at me and break down my door and rob me.”  
  
The man pointing the gun who seemed very evidently to be the leader of the outfit laughed. “Man, you are either the nicest or the stupidest guy we’ve ever stolen from. Hell, maybe both. Look, _mate_ , I don’t know how they’re handling things where you come from—” And neither did Adam, but he said nothing about it.”But around here, we gotta take what we need; we help ourselves. Dog eat dog. Survival of the fittest or whatever, know what I mean?”  
  
Before Adam could respond, a third man said, “I got his phone and computer. I don’t see anything else of value that we can carry.”  
  
“Please don’t take those. That’s the only way I have to contact anyone,” Adam pleaded, “At least, leave the laptop. It’s old and doesn’t even work half the time anyway.”  
  
“Hey, in case you haven’t noticed or forgot, we got the guns and we’re running this,” a fourth man said, pushing past Adam and the third man in a rough fashion. He mumbled something about doing some dishonest sounding trade with the devices in question, but Adam wasn’t really listening anymore. He was too distracted by the reminder that he might very well be shot and no one would even know what had happened to him.  
  
All in all, it would be an almost mundane way to die, getting murdered by another person. It wouldn't be the most expected way to die during the zombie apocalypse, would it? Getting shot while a group of men rob you and make fun of you.  
  
Adam didn’t want to die, especially not like that, not alone in his home with no way to let anyone know what had happened. So, he stopped talking, and he stood very still. He made a plan; if he survived this, if they let him live, he’d pack whatever necessities he had left that he could carry in a knapsack, and he would go to Kurt’s apartment where Kurt and Rachel (and maybe Santana...he hadn’t heard any updates on that situation) would hopefully still be.  
  
“Alright, boys, we ready to roll?” the group’s leader asked. Having confirmed they were indeed ready, he commanded, “Let’s roll.”  
  
Adam held his breath, thinking that if they were going to shoot him after all this they would do it at that very moment. His heart pounded frantically in his chest, as if it could save him from this situation just by working harder.  
  
Fortunately, the men left without firing any shots. Adam heaved a sigh of relief, and his legs buckled underneath him. He was alive.

  


Now to take inventory and get packing. He grabbed his knives from the floor where he’d dropped them, thankful to still have them, even if he never wanted to use them (well, never in the way he probably would have to use them soon.) As expected, his kitchen had been utterly ransacked. There had been very little left anyway, but now there was nothing but boxes of tea.  
  
Well, at least they’d left him his tea. “Thank you, Marcus,” he said, as he grabbed a box from the cabinet, “I could’ve done without the name calling though.” The biscuits Marcus had also mocked were noticeably absent; Marcus’s hunger must have been larger than his attitude. “Ah, of course.”  
  
He had two thermos containers that didn’t leak, so he filled them with water and packed them. Then, he grabbed some clothes. Lastly, he took three photos off his refrigerator: one of the Apples, one of him and Kurt, and one of his family back in England. These were people he would always carry with him.  
  
He took one last look at the place he’d called home for several years, currently trashed as it was. It held so many memories. He recalled moving into it from the shoe-box of a dorm room at NYADA; back then, he’d had a roommate, an odd fellow named James who also attended NYADA; really this apartment had been James’s to start with, but after a year of living in it with Adam, James left and left the place to Adam. Adam never saw or heard of the man again, and his disappearance was something of an amusing mystery.  
  
Joey from the Apples had lived with Adam for a few months one year, and that had been fun, even if they did have their disagreements sometimes. Other members of the group stayed as guests for shorter tenures. On a few occasions, they gathered the whole group in there at once.  
  
The first time Kurt had come to visit... The first time he’d stayed the night... That one time he’d stayed for almost a week because he was fighting with Rachel over something neither of them even remembered anymore...  
  
Adam turned and left. He had to go to Kurt. There was nothing for him here anymore.


	3. Chapter Three

It was dark when Kurt and Adam finally made it to the loft. The air was eerily still, and all was silent. Kurt’s heart was in his throat as he turned on the lights, terrified at what he might find when the place was illuminated.  
  
He brought a hand to his face and could feel himself start to shake. Adam placed a steadying hand on his shoulder and squeezed slightly. As predicted, his home was completely trashed. “Rachel,” he whispered.  
  
“Rachel! Rachel, are you still here?! Say something! Anything!” But he knew she was gone. Still, he searched the whole apartment for her, every inch of it, shouting for her.  
But under her bed there was so much blood, and Kurt knew that was probably where she had tried to hide…  
  
Kurt’s legs gave out, and he fell to the floor and broke down. She was dead. She was gone. She was probably one of those goddamn things. She was his best friend, and he hadn’t been there, and he hadn’t even had the fucking decency to stay on the phone with her when she’d called, when she had begged him not to leave her all alone. And now, she was gone. That had been their last conversation, and he’d likely never see her again.  
  
He felt Adam’s arms wrap around his body, and Adam gently and wordlessly coaxed him to stand and then guided him away from the nightmarish scene. He led Kurt to Kurt’s mattress on the floor (he had volunteered his bed frame as part of the furniture barricade.) They both lay on it together, held each other tightly, and cried. It was just them now; they were all each other had.

  


At some point in the night when he couldn’t sleep, Kurt got up and rummaged through the dresser that had also been part of the barricade and now lay, damaged but mostly intact on the floor a few feet from the door. He tried to remember which drawer Rachel kept her collection of candles in, which was even harder with all of Santana’s stuff having overtaken so much of the drawers. He remembered the way they’d both fight over that and bit his lip hard.  
  
As he continued his search, he had to deal with quite a few memories like that coming to the surface. He tried not to think about how Santana was probably dead too. How all of his friends kept dying.  
  
His chest was too heavy, too tightly crushed under the weight of all that he was feeling (or trying not to feel.) He couldn’t breathe. He sank to the floor and hugged his knees. For the first time since the whole apocalypse thing had started, it hit him, _really_ hit him, hard. The world was ending. It had ended. Life as he had ever known it was over and gone, and no matter what happened he was never going to get it back. For the first time since this whole apocalypse began, it really felt like the world had ended.  
  
The footsteps behind him barely registered over his own pulse pounding heavily in his ears. “Kurt? Kurt, are you alright?” Adam moved closer, and soon Kurt felt his arms around him once again. “What are you doing, love?”  
  
Kurt took a shuddery breath and tried to explain. “I couldn’t sleep, and I thought I should do a vigil or something, light some candles. Rachel has some, somewhere in here, but it’s all a mess of her stuff and Santana’s stuff.” He must have sounded really hysterical because Adam held him more tightly than before. “And I thought it would be good, y’know? The right thing to do. The sort of thing you do when someone—when they’re—”  
  
“Shhh, shhh, shhhh.” Adam held him close and ran a soothing hand over the back of his head as Kurt buried his face into Adam’s shoulder. “I know, love. I know.” After a moment of this, Adam said, “Here, let me help you, okay? You’re right. We should. C’mon.”  
  
Together they dug through the contents of the dresser until they found a small collection of scented candles. They set them up in the floor in the middle of the apartment and lit all of them. Kurt retrieved some photos of Rachel and a few of Santana as well, and they placed them among the candles.  
  
For a while, they just sat before the arrangement in relative silence, holding each other and crying. Finally, Kurt spoke, “We should, uh, say a few words. Don’t you think?”  
  
Adam nodded. “Yes, we should.”  
  
“Okay.” Kurt took a deep breath. “Rachel Berry was one of my closest friends for many years. She-She wasn’t always the easiest friend or roommate to have, but-but I loved her, and I know—I know she loved me, too.” He had to stop; he looked up at the ceiling and took another deep breath. “She was so, so talented and so, so determined and ambitious and I just know if-if—” He stopped again, but quickly resumed, “She was gonna be one of the brightest stars in this city.”  
  
“Well-said, my love,” Adam said, hugging him and kissing the top of his head, “I don’t think I could possibly add anything to that. You said it all.”  
  
Kurt nodded. “Thank you.” Looking at a photo of Santana, he said, “And here’s hoping Santana’s still out there somewhere...and if she’s not…” He considered saying he hoped she was in a better place, but that was too borderline-churchy, too sappy, too unlike what Santana would want him to say (and anyway as comforting as the thought was, it was hollow, he didn’t believe it, it would be nothing more than a beautiful lie.) So he finally said, “If she’s not, I hope she’s giving the devil a hard time.” He almost smiled. That felt like the right way to memorialize Santana.

  


They left the loft sometime in the morning, taking whatever supplies they could reasonably carry. Kurt stopped as they left, taking one last look at his destroyed home. He took a deep, shuddery breath and turned away, walking purposefully out the door. Adam followed closely behind him.  
  
Last night they had discussed their plan to leave, but they had never really decided where they would go. Sometime in the many hours Kurt could not sleep, he had thought of something. As they made their way out of the building, he told Adam his idea. “I think we need to get out of New York City.”  
  
“Okay,” Adam replied a bit skeptically, “but where will we go? And how do we know we wouldn’t just end up somewhere worse?”  
  
“We don’t, but we know it’s bad here,” Kurt said.  
  
“Fair enough,” Adam conceded, “but you still haven’t answered my first question.”  
  
Kurt hoped he didn’t sound completely irrational. He knew he was about to propose something pretty crazy. Still, it was the plan that felt the most right to his heart at the moment, and maybe he could get his and Adam’s heads on board. He sighed. “I-I wanna go home, Adam.”  
  
“To Lima? In Ohio?”  
  
“Yes,” Kurt continued, “Look, I know that’s… a long way away, especially considering we don't have a car or anything like that, but I-I did a lot of thinking last night, and I’ve been worrying about my dad a lot, and I—I dunno—I could be wrong, but it seems like a small town like Lima would maybe be safer than a big city like this one right now.”  
  
Adam seemed to be considering Kurt’s words. Finally, he shrugged. “Alright. If that’s what you really want to do, then let’s go.”  
  
“Really?” Kurt asked.  
  
“Of course,” Adam said, “Besides, it’s the only plan we’ve got right now, might as well go with it.”  
  
Kurt nodded. “Right. Okay.” He paused. “We’ll need to get a map.”  
  
“I grabbed a city map from your apartment,” Adam informed him.  
  
“Great!” Kurt responded, “Good thinking.”  
  
“Why thank you,” Adam replied, searching his bag for the aforementioned map.  
  
“We could probably stand to pick up something that maps more than just this city though,” Kurt said, “We’ll need to stop by somewhere and grab one.” He paused. “What do you have for weapons?”  
  
“Oh, um.” Adam removed two relatively small knives from his bag. He brandished them sheepishly.  
  
“Seriously?” He was damn lucky he hadn’t gotten himself killed if that was all he had. “Here.” Kurt handed him the baseball bat. “Take this until we can get you something better.”  
  
Adam took the bat. “Why do you have a baseball bat anyway?”  
  
“Self-defense, hilariously enough,” Kurt replied, “Rachel…” Fuck, Rachel was dead. He closed his eyes and tried to push the overwhelming grief aside. “Rachel bought it a while back… Before all this. She said she wanted something in the house she could knock somebody out with, for the times she was home alone or whatever...” Goddamn, this hurt so much. Suddenly, Kurt remembered the sound of the zombie’s skull being cracked open. “I used it to bash a zombie’s head in.”  
  
“That would explain the blood,” Adam said softly. He placed an arm around Kurt’s shoulders. “I’m sorry about Rachel.”  
  
“It’s—” Kurt had no idea how he was going to finish that response. How could he? It wasn’t okay, and it wouldn’t ever be okay. It would maybe someday get less fucked up, and that was the best he could really hope for.  
  
Their thoughts were soon interrupted as they stumbled upon a small group of zombies. They backed up slowly and quietly, wondering if it wasn’t too late to change direction and escape notice.  
  
It was. The zombies turned to look at them and advanced. Adam swore like mad, and Kurt got out his sais. His hands were shaking, and he seriously doubted his ability to kill these things with such a short range weapon.  
  
He heard the bat make contact with flesh and saw Adam swinging it wildly in his peripheral vision. The zombie that had finally tried to lunge at Kurt looked like it had once been a teenage girl; Kurt wondered if he’d ever stop seeing the people these things once were when he saw them up close. She very nearly grabbed him, but he dodged her and put one of the sais through her eye. She flailed about but didn’t go down. He desperately slashed and stabbed at her face with the other sai, hoping something would at least slow her down.  
  
“Kurt, duck!” Adam shouted. Operating on strange instinct, Kurt followed Adam’s instruction without question. He felt air from Adam swinging the bat over his head and into the face of the teenage zombie that had almost gotten him.  
  
The zombie girl went down. The sai blade now driven deep into her brain. Kurt got back up quickly and grabbed one of Adam’s knives. It wasn’t a throwing knife, but it was going to have to try to be one now. Kurt threw it, and it landed in the leg of a male zombie that was fast approaching them. He threw the other knife, and it went through that same zombie’s eye socket (that was mostly empty for some reason) and into his brain.  
  
Kurt retrieved his sai as Adam bludgeoned the final zombie to death. That had been close, way, way too close. He went ahead and retrieved the knives as well. He wiped off all of the bloody blades.  
  
He looked over at Adam and quickly realized that this was the first time Adam had killed one of these things (and quite possibly _anything_ , knowing Adam.) Adam stared at the bodies and shook violently. Kurt walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Adam took a shaky breath. He looked sick. Sure enough, he turned away quickly and vomited onto the pavement.  
  
“It’s okay,” Kurt said, “It’s okay.” He wasn’t really sure that it was, but he had to try to talk Adam through this. They really needed to move on. “Was that your first time dealing with those things?”  
  
Adam straightened up and nodded. “Yeah,” he replied hoarsely. Kurt handed him some water, and he accepted it gratefully. After drinking, he said, “Those were people once. They were…” He paused and closed his eyes. “I’ve never killed anything bigger than a bug before and I’ve just… bashed someone’s face in.”  
  
“They were already dead when you did it,” Kurt said, gently guiding Adam away from the scene, “They weren’t people anymore.” They began to slowly walk away when Kurt gently urged Adam. “C’mon. Let’s get going.”


	4. Chapter Four

They walked for a while before they happened upon a shop that Kurt thought might have the sort of map he was looking for. Adam held onto their city map and tried to navigate them out of town with it. So far all they had accomplished in terms of that mission was putting a lot of ground between themselves and Bushwick. Still, that was progress, at least.  
  
The store was abandoned, as they had expected, so they walked into it with some caution, mindful of any lurking dangers. The thought of another encounter like the one they’d just had earlier put Adam on edge; he gripped the baseball bat in his hand more tightly.  
  
The more of the shop that they explored, the more it became apparent that they were the only ones inside. They could breathe a bit easier, but they didn’t dare let their guard totally down.  
  
“Aha! There we are,” Kurt said, locating the item they were searching for. He picked up a small book of maps and opened it, quickly examining its contents. “This will do.” He placed it in his bag. “Anything else?”  
  
“I think we’ve got everything we need for now,” Adam replied, “At least, I can’t think of anything else.”  
  
“Okay then,” Kurt responded, “Let’s keep going, I guess.”  
  
They left the shop, and after that, they walked for a while longer. For some time, things were thankfully uneventful.  
  
Then, they saw two figures in the distance ahead of them, walking and talking. They appeared to be carrying bags like Kurt and Adam. Perhaps they were travelling as well.  
  
Adam’s natural inclination was to be friendly and chatty, but he knew it would be foolish to assume the two strange men were harmless. He and Kurt slowly walked a little closer and then stopped, studying the other men. They looked at each other; Kurt was clearly as wary as Adam was, if not more so.  
  
Until Kurt’s expression suddenly changed. “Wait a second,” he said, “I think—” He listened to and watched the others again and began to slowly approach them. “I know that guy.”  
  
Adam followed him. “Which one?”  
  
“The taller, skinny one,” Kurt replied, “I used to sorta hang out with him, although mostly not by choice.”  
  
“Are you sure it’s him?” Adam asked.  
  
“I’d know that smug voice and meerkat face anywhere,” Kurt said. He quickened his pace, and Adam followed suit to keep up.  
  
“Do you know who he’s with?” Adam asked.  
  
“No,” Kurt answered, “I don’t think I recognize that guy.” To the men ahead of them, Kurt finally called out, “Sebastian Smythe! Fancy meeting you here!”  
  
The two men jumped and quickly turned. The man who was presumably Sebastian Smythe responded, “Kurt Hummel. What a surprise. I would’ve thought you’d either be dead or out of town by now, and I probably would’ve bet on dead.”  
  
“I could say the same for you,” Kurt said, “Although I didn’t know you were in town.”  
  
“Yeah, I moved here after high school,” Sebastian explained, “I was taking classes at NYU, but then that turned out to be a waste of time.” He gestured to the abandoned and damaged streets and properties around them. “What about you, Hummel? You seem to be doing pretty well for yourself.” As he said it, he looked Adam up and down with a lecherous expression.  
  
This evidently did not go unnoticed by Kurt. “Yes, I was enrolled at NYADA before all this, which is where I met Adam.” There was an edge to his tone which implied Sebastian needed to back off.  
  
Feeling a bit awkward and also not wanting to seem standoffish or rude, Adam said, “Hello.”  
  
“Hey,” Sebastian said, still slightly flirtatious.  
  
Before Kurt and Sebastian could start in on each other again, the other man spoke up. “Hi.” He extended a hand. “I’m Elliott.”  
  
“Nice to meet you,” Adam said as he shook his hand.  
  
Kurt echoed the sentiment and also shook Elliott’s hand. Then, he asked, “So, what brings you guys out here?”  
  
“We’re trying to leave the city,” Sebastian replied, “which is easier said than done because it’s fucking huge.”  
  
“Really? Us, too!” Adam responded enthusiastically. Maybe they could travel together for a bit. It might be advantageous to travel in a larger group, not to mention fun to make new friends. “Where are you headed?”  
  
“We’re trying to get to Paramus, New Jersey,” Elliott explained, “I’ve got family there we’re hoping to stay with. What about you guys?”  
  
“Lima, Ohio,” Kurt answered, “for basically the same reason.”  
  
“You’re actually going back to Lima?” Sebastian questioned skeptically.  
  
“Yes, I am,” Kurt said adamantly, “Or we’re gonna try to at least. It’s not like it’s a loser town more than any other town anymore.”  
  
“Never said it was,” Sebastian said easily, holding up a hand in mock surrender, “but if we’re all heading in roughly the same direction, we could travel together for a while.”  
  
“That’s a great idea,” Elliott added, “We totally should. If you guys are cool with it, that is.”  
  
“Of course,” Adam said, “What do you think, Kurt?” He looked at Kurt expectantly.  
  
Kurt considered it for a moment. “Yeah, I’m fine with that. It’s probably better to travel with a bigger group anyway.”  
  
“Actually,” Adam suggested, getting an idea, “we could go with them to Paramus—if you’ll have us—that way we can stick together for a while and possibly have a place to stop and rest for a few days between here and Lima—if no one minds us stopping there. That’s on the way, isn’t it?”  
  
“Uh, I think so,” Kurt said, consulting his maps, “I mean it’s in roughly the same direction in that it’s west of here...Sure, I guess we could do that. If Sebastian and Elliott are alright with it.”  
  
“Fine with me,” Sebastian said.  
  
“Yeah, that’s totally cool,” Elliott responded, “And I’m sure no one will mind if you guys wanna crash for a few days. Ohio’s a long way from here.”  
  
“Yeah, it is,” Kurt agreed.  
  
“Paramus isn’t exactly close, if you’re on foot,” Sebastian commented, “We should probably get going again if we wanna get there this year.”  
  
Everyone agreed and, after consulting the maps, resumed travelling in the direction they hoped would lead them out of New York City.


End file.
